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Wednesday 30 March 2016

Looking Up

The previous post was all about poor Donkey and her terrible struggle to overcome the Arctic-like conditions she had to endure on her daily January walks up the big, big mountain.

Now it is March. The days are warmer, the light is brighter, and the walk is less daunting, less of a "J" and more of a huge rectangle and sometimes more of a shape you would never, ever find in a geometry or any other book. Today I took my camera with me and got some "looking up" shots - treetops against a beautifully blue sky with fluffy clouds. Don't worry, I didn't trip and fall and break a hip while I was looking up.

(I'm not quite sure if these will be made bigger if you click on them or not - I'm just learning this stuff - but it can't hurt to try. Let me know what you find out. And does anyone have trouble reading the small print captions? If so, let me know.)

Soon there will be leaves, but not yet.
Some branches are lacier than others. Maybe those are the girl trees.
This evergreen appears to be rocketing towards the right, with a very wide vapour trail.
Power lines. Proof I was walking on a sidewalk, not in a forest.
It was a perfect day to take pictures with a point-and-shoot camera.
I think this one got a bad scare. Or has static in his hair.
Pussywillows? I'm not quite sure. I thought they were icy droplets at the time. Bad eyes.
Snow-white birches mingling with their less-showy friends.
Lots of cones on this very tall old fellow.
No trees, but see that blurry speck at six o'clock? A bald eagle - one of two - looking for supper. I got a little nervous when he/she circled right overhead. When I started walking again, he/she realized he/she was no match for a donkey and flapped lazily away. I'm working on getting a better photo. So far I have five shots of grey cloud cover and nothing else, not even a wing tip or a beak. Try, try again ...stubborn ... you know the drill.



I not only looked up, I looked down ...


That's water, not sky ...



... and around ...

Lichens and moss on a low-lying limb.

I'm not sure what's happening to the branches on this guy. Any thoughts?









 

Usually my walk is thirty minutes long but it feels like twice that. Today I was gone for seventy-five minutes ... and it felt like no time had passed at all. With all the stopping and gawking and ambling and meandering, my heart and lungs didn't get much of a workout. But my mind and spirit were full to overflowing.

Next time, one more tree - my favourite at the moment, and why.


16 comments:

Jocelyn said...

I love being able to see what you see! And, yes, when I click on the photos, they do get bigger, and it is not at all difficult to read the captions. I hope this is feeling like a fun learning curve for you!

jenny_o said...

Thanks for the feedback, Jocelyn. Yes, it's getting a few brain cells working - especially the technical side. I'm not made for that stuff :)

Elephant's Child said...

The photos embiggened like a charm. And as you know the sky is one of my obsessions. And trees. And birds.
I have learnt that if print is too small for me I can click on the control and the plus buttons and it will magically get bigger. Control and minus will shrink it.

John Going Gently said...

Nice to have u here in blogland ......congratulations on a fruitful career here xxxxx

37paddington said...

I promise your heart got as much of a workout as your soul did. You hit the exercise jackpot is what you did. It didn't feel like trudging. You tapped into wonder and curiosity and joy in the world around you.

Jono said...

I am impressed with your "stubbornness". Remember, stubborn is what you are called when others can't get you to agree with them. Always refer to yourself as tenacious, determined,or iron-willed. It puts you in a more positive light! :)

Diane Stringam Tolley said...

And now my soul has gotten a workout, too! Thank you!

jenny_o said...

I thought of you when I started taking those treetop photos, EC! Thank you for the tip to enlarge or shrink the type. I need that sometimes.

jenny_o said...

Thanks, John! I don't think I will ever be as prolific a blogger as you are - or as funny - but the words seem to want to come out, so I'm finally letting them loose :)

jenny_o said...

You are right. SO right. It doesn't feel like work any more.

jenny_o said...

Heh ... do I detect another "tenacious, determined, iron-willed" soul in the room? ...

jenny_o said...

Being out and about lifts my mood like nothing else. Except maybe chocolate :) I'm glad you liked it.

Geo. said...

No problem reading captions. They are delightful!

jenny_o said...

They are nonsense, mostly - but fun to write. I just remembered that when I was growing up I had a photo album in which I captioned the photos, and the captions were pretty much like these. Old-timey blogging?

Chicken said...

Hi PD. I could enlarge the pictures and read everything. Keep snapping those photos. It looks beautiful where you live. My favorite tree is the pine tree. I like to be in a whole forest of them, with the needles on the ground and scent in my nose. That's home for me. Toss in some wild blueberries along the way and it's a picnic.

jenny_o said...

Taking the camera outside really opened my eyes to the beauty that is here. I've been here so long I had stopped seeing it. Yes to pine needles and wild blueberries!